What did you mod today?

The ring isn’t glued. It’s press-fit. But so tight I couldn’t even get an xacto knife underneath.

“And don’t promote GoofOff – crap. My repertoire of chemical knowledge leaves that shit trailing slime miles behind.”

Yeah ok whatever Mr. Dupont or is it Mr. Dow? :laughing: :open_mouth:

Not even with a dremel and dentist’s drill bit or the like? A brief feather-touch would take off at least some of it.

Brief blast from a multi-watt etching/cutting laser?

I’m making some 7 test strips in aluminium and planning on some tests with the commercial “Lepage’s epoxy and glue remover”, and some other solvents as gasoline.

@ LB: That could be done – stabilizing the counterpoise arm with a backing support, a touch with a small dentist’s burr or stone. I believe I may have some about.

Thing is I had another meter that seemed fine but after careful inspection, the needle/counterweight assembly had torn from the micro winding of the coil. These are some 60+ years old and the resins they used to support the whole thing has dried and is brittle. It may have had a drop shock, although I’ve kept them in their original boxes, which broke the bond and now is useless. This is my only working meter in the 100 mV drive. My other meters are not so sensitive nor can be fitted with trim pots for final adjustments.

I had these meters in my collections but this one, in particular, lacked the counterpoise on the right. I had put the most minuscule amount of epoxy to compensate – using the needle of those disposable diabetes 1 cc syringes as the smallest common needle was too blunt. But the movement is now skewed (overshoots) past midday whilst it was undershooting prior. And the thought of adding some weight to the left makes for a heavier movement which in turn requires more voltage to overcome the drag. This makes for a higher shunt voltage and that is a problem at 50 Amps draw. As is, the Manganin shunt is getting very, very hot (but it stays constant in resistance – great invention Mr. Weston). Without the epoxy, the meter would need ~100 mV for full scale; with the smallest of epoxy, now is at 200 mV. The leverage of the long needle is a multiplier. Very touchy devices, but I suppose when they were originally made, had the resilience and accuracy of the times.

For all the years that I’ve worked with Simpson’s meters, adjusting and correcting, this is my most difficult one. I gather the long 2” needle makes it overly sensitive to any manipulation.

Addendum;

Being a commoner, my repertoire of available solvents is limited. However, I have some very caustic degreaser that ate away the PET container. I’ll give it try.

Also, have some engine degreaser which is citrus-based and easier to clean off than Goof Off

I believe you'll find that aluminum and caustic do not get along without dissolving the aluminum.... into aluminum hydroxide. Be careful.

A couple mini-mods with AA lights. I really like the new Convoy T2 but thought it would be nice to have a tail magnet on it. Searched high and low on aliexpress but couldn't find any ring magnets that small, so I finally sent messages to several magnet stores. On the T2 it can take something like 16.5mm x 12mm x 3.5mm (ideally). One supplier first said no and then messaged back that they did have a 16 x 12 x 2. That store seems to have premium prices all around but I went ahead and ordered a 10pc at $11 plus $3 shipping and hoped for the best. Allmagnets Store: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002910977987.html(link is external)

Well they fit great! Other than being so thin. With one magnet the button still protrudes but there's not quite enough grab with these lower end N35 magnets to be fully functional and trustworthy. Stacking two magnets recesses the button slightly (1mm or less) and after gluing brings it just ever so slightly higher than the ears on the tailcap - but it still tailstands reliably with no wobble and really grabs to metal surfaces nicely. The magnets will tell you this as you work with them, but it's important to align their poles and do a test to see which side grabs a little better than the other. I scuff sanded both sides of the bottom magnet and just the underside of the top magnet. Used a gel superglue and a bit too much, which required some tedious cleaning with acetone afterwards. I think it's easiest to glue the two magnets together at first since they will pull into perfect alignment and their own attractive force is plenty of clamping pressure. Then with the switch/button removed from the cap, sparsely apply glue to the tailcap before placing the magnets and quickly pushing up the rubber button for centering purposes. Alternatively you can try to push the magnets over the rubber button and then pop the button out - either way works but I found the former to create less mess and if done quickly there is still enough time to position before the superglue grabs tightly. Excess superglue will stick to the rubber and can either be flaked off or soaked in acetone for a couple minutes if you want it pristine (handy if you get any on the top checkered surface).

I exchanged messages with Simon and I believe he's going to try to source a 4mm thickness to stock in his store.

I took a look at a buddy's Tool AA and decided to give it a try as well. The tailcap on both new (lighted) and old is the same, with about a 15.4mm inside diameter near the top, but closer to 15mm at the bottom of the recess (slightly tapered), plus there is a very thin raised ring right around the button hole. Used a 5mm carbide end cutting mill in the drill press and carefully worked by hand to mill away small amounts (cap centered and squared in soft vise jaws, moved the vise around the bit for a little more stability and control). Worked out great! The switch on the Tool seems to need a little more travel than the Convoy and it's a little recessed in the same way after adding the magnet stack, but it works great - best of both worlds with a tail clicky, fancy lights, and a magnet. For those who want a magnet but don't want to lose the tail switch, it's a fun option.

You can buy individual cheap carbide end mills for just a few bucks and even the cruddy low end HSS ones would work ok for this, although try to get a true end cutter that will plunge (many are not ground correctly for this and while they would work in this case they are not as versatile). The aluminum in lights is pretty soft and we're only removing minute amounts, so specialized aluminum mills aren't necessary, and carbide is at no disadvantage compared to hss in this case. Setup always takes longer than the actual work but I think I spent maybe a half hour total, plus assembly time. You'll need a drill press with a hold/stop for the quill travel...sometimes you can modify a cheap press that only has a threaded rod for depth with nuts on the top by disassembling and adding a thin jam nut beneath the casting which you can then adjust and lock in place using the top side nuts. I first tried to use a 1/2" sanding drum in the press but that mostly just made a mess and the bottom edge of the band wore away quickly, unable to square up the taper or deal with the raised ring. Many words to describe all of this but it's really very simple and doesn't require any special tooling or experience other than a small end mill and secure workholding (and the press table should be decently square to the quill, also). Also be very careful with clamping pressure so you don't ovalize the tailcap - correcting that is very difficult to do.

Tool AA below

https://imgur.com/sfCE7nS

[img]https://i.imgur.com/sfCE7nS.jpg[/img]

Couple of really old school 1XAA lights got some love this weekend.

First off the Balder BD1p got a shinny new 219b sw-45k, little less output but ohhh that tint. I is running a 3x7135 ak-47 driver and works fine with a 14500 and 1xAA. I am not sure how it works at that low voltage, but the CPU is booted and modes work. I really would like to find the extension tube for this little guy.
Then a Deerelight EDC C2H got a pretty nice 219b sw-40 on a noctigon to correct the headspace that was off a tiny bit and required a solder wire shim to always make contact, now she is really reliable.

I also got in the Convoy T2, second version with the LH351D at 4000k. Along with it was a stash of it’s drivers I ordered. I think one of the drivers may end up in the Balder soon. One of the others will end up in a lego 1xAA/14500 P60 dropin or in my Javelin.

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Looks nice, I like these kind of mods :+1:

Convoy S16 Xhp70.2 4000K 80cri and Convoy 6V 5A driver, with custom reflector and centering ring.




Beamshot taken in conditions with lots of ambient light against dirty white concrete. Distance ~2m.

Looks awesome. What are your thoughts on the S16 as a host compared to the M21B? I’m thinking S16 will be my next Convoy purchase, but as I’m not in the modding phase of this hobby yet I’d need to go stock. I did confirm with Simon they are not the same size reflector.

S16 is more compact and feels more refined. M21B is little rough. I have M21B also and I was surprised how much this host feels better in your hand. It also looks better in my opinion.

M21B has a slighty bigger reflector. At least its outer dimensions are bigger, and it is available in orange peel. This could also be a nice light with XHP50.2 with a 5A driver. Then you don’t need to modify the reflector. It would have more throw and at least 3000 lumens.

Thank you. :+1:

I was handling my fwaa the other day and i thought “Gee it really is a light weight isn’t it” So i added some extra useless weight to it so it won’t get blown away in the wind.

EDIT: the missus reckons it’ll look better if I de-anodize the body

^ hmm :neutral_face:
But I love how you explore every possible corner of modding, keep going! :sunglasses: :+1: :smiley:

Steampunkish!!!

Like it. Different and so Louis the XIV. :+1: :beer:

@pinkpanda3310:

Looks amazing!

Convoy T2 driver installed in my old solarforce 0.8v-4.2v shtf dropin. Now has a true moonlight mode. :slight_smile:

This an OLD mod. DRY 3xXml. I used a metal checkering file on the body (which could use a little finishing/polishing) and relieved the tailcap for easier access.

Time to upgrade. LED suggestions? I want ~5000k. I’m not up on what would be best, XPL or SST-40? Maybe efficiency would be better than raw output for this host.

Also, the battery carrier is too short for many 18650s. At one point I bought a bunch of small brass spacers that could go in between the rods and plates, but apparently I didn’t do it and they’re long gone. Anyone have a suggestion for making it a couple mm longer?

I got these in the other day: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BVRKJZF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They are brass, and not sure they are the right size, right #'s, but cheap enough. I bought them more for making battery pads or using in wood or plastic for battery fillers, etc. Forgot who posted here, might be a little eralier in this thread or the Amazon deals thread.